Bandits operating in Gando forest in Bukkuyum local government area of Zamfara State have written to nine communities asking them to pay their levies or face deadly attacks.
This is coming a few weeks after bandits massacred at least 200 people in Bukkuyum and Anka local government areas.
In that carnage, the bandits burnt down five villages killed many residents and mutilated their bodies.
Residents said that the bandits, who attacked the villages on motorcycles, were more than 500.
The letters were reportedly written in Hausa language and addressed to the different communities. Each of the letters has the name of the community on the top and the money it is expected to pay. There was also a mobile phone number written on the letters.
Newsmen called the number several times but it did not go through.
“Yargalma. N5,000,000. From Dogon Sabi na Auwali Wanzam. You people should reach out to us for peace. Come and pay us money or vacate your town. Respect this and live in peace,” one of the letters read.
All the letters bore the same contents except the title of the town and the amount the bandits are seeking.
The communities according to their districts and the amount they are expected to pay:
Zugu district has five communities taxed as follows: Wawan Iccen Ibrahim N4,000,000, Wawan Iccen Salihu N1,000,000, Gaude N1,000,000, Galle N1,000,000 and Tungar Gebe N500,000.
In Gado district, the two communities levied are Nannarki and Ruwan Kura N5,000,000 each.
Adabka district head has one community Gangara which is levied N1.5 million. Zarummai district also has one community which is Yar Galma N5,000,000.
A source at the palace of Bunun Zugu, district head of Zugu in Bukkuyum Local Government area confirmed that although the nine villages are spread across four districts, all the letters were sent to Bunun Zugu.
Bunun Zugu is considered to be one of the highly influential princes in the Bukkuyum emirate council.
The palace source, who craved anonymity, said the monarch had reached out to the Emir of Bukkuyum on the issue.
“His Royal Highness has been discussing the issue with the District Head and other heads of the remaining districts,” he said.
On how they authenticated the letters, the source said they were brought to the district head by released captives.
“Some of our people were kidnapped by bandits in November last year and after payment of ransom, they released them and sent them with the letters for delivery to the district head” he noted.
A youth leader, Abubakar Gero, who is the coordinator of Zamfara Circle in the area, said the letters were given to some kidnapped residents of Kyaram village under Zugu.
“After payment of ransom by relatives of the captives, they asked them to go with the nine different letters and present them to Bunun Zugu who was also instructed to forward it to the remaining heads.”
He said that residents of the affected communities have started gathering the money to avoid attacks.
The phone number of Zamfara police command spokesperson, Mohammed Shehu, could not-be reached on Monday. An SMS sent to him was not responded to.
Meanwhile, the Zamfara State governor, Bello Matawalle, has said there is no immediate end in sight for banditry in his state.
Matawalle spoke with state house correspondents on Monday after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the presidential villa, Abuja.
He said the president has assured him that the federal government will strengthen security activities that will bring about changes in Zamfara.
“So you see with the kind of people we have in Zamfara state, I don’t think this issue of banditry will end very soon because, already, some people are behind it. Some people are using it,” he said.
“And all they need is at least to show Nigerians that both the federal and Zamfara state governments are not serious on the issue of insecurity, despite the fact that some of them are involved in the crisis of this insecurity. But we’re doing our best
“So, I briefed Mr. President on what happened and the next action that we should take and the government is doing everything possible to make sure that we bring sanity in the state.
“And I assure people that we have all it takes to fight these people and he has motivated me and when we go back on Wednesday, the people will see changes between now and Wednesday because I know what we discussed and I know what is going to happen within this period.”
Speaking on the recent killings in Zamfara communities, the governor said the death toll is 58, and not 200.
Matawalle said he visited the scenes of the attacks and got first-hand information from the emirs.
He accused “political bandits” of spreading unverified figures.
“I have already cleared the air about the figures because I have seen some reports that 200 people, 300 people, 500 people were killed. But I went to the community by myself with the security agencies,” he said.
“First, we went to Bungudu and we confirmed from the emir that it was only 36 people that had been killed and two communities were razed by these bandits.
“When we went to Anka, we met the emir and he gave us a list of 22 people that had been killed, making the total number of 58 people killed.
“But as I’ve been saying there are some political bandits who have been spreading lies and rumours so that they can achieve some political gain.”
The governor assured that the state will soon fish out those suspected to be collaborating with terrorists
